Wellington teaming with FAU

Students working with village to create sustainability plan

April 12, 2009|By Jason Parsley Staff writer

Wellington is teaming with Florida Atlantic University to come up with a sustainability element to add to the village's comprehensive plan.

"Sustainability is any development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations," said Jaap Vos, director of FAU's School of Urban and Regional Planning. "As far as I know, Wellington would be the first in South Florida to specifically include this in their comprehensive plan."

A comprehensive plan is a broad overview of a municipality's goals in terms of development. Students taking a Sustainable Cities course at FAU will have the opportunity this semester to do some hands-on work by proposing goals, objectives and policies to be included in the draft that will be presented to the Village Council.

"We're trying to find win-win situations, and we've already created one. I think it's very exciting to have a partnership between a village and a university," Vos said. "Our students aren't just learning in a classroom; they're going out and practicing. While doing that, they're already giving back to the community."

The sustainable development element started as one of the eight concepts of the village's ongoing Economic Development Initiative. Project Manager Bill Nemser said the sustainability concept took on a life of its own, and while it is still a part of the EDI, he is hoping it also will become a part of the village's comprehensive plan.

The state requires each municipality to adopt a comprehensive plan, and it must include certain chapters such as land use, housing and infrastructure. But additional elements may be added. Wellington, for instance, added an equestrian element.

Nemser called the comprehensive plan an "organic series of goals, policies and objectives." He doesn't know of another municipality that has a sustainability element in its comprehensive plan, so they had nothing from which to work. That is one of the reasons the village decided to partner with FAU.

"We thought it would be good to have the input from the university," he said.

Phase 1 of the project will be complete May 1. The students will present their findings April 24.

"We're looking forward to continuing working with the university and community," Nemser said. "We're on the cutting edge of planning."